The invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for managing lengths of optical fibers whose ends are both either fixed or inaccessible. Optical fibers are often used to connect components within a limited space. As an illustrative example, fiber management devices are used within junction boxes sometimes called “termination chambers,” wherein fiber-carrying cables are joined to connectors or to other cables or components. When such cable junctions are made, one or more optical fibers issue from the end of the cable in which they are imbedded. The ends of these fibers go to attachment points of the component to which the cable is terminated. The cable-to-component junction is housed in a termination chamber. Excess fiber, always needed to complete the termination process, is stored within the chamber. Because both ends of the fiber are fixed, it cannot simply be wound on a reel. If it were, each turn around the reel would result in a half-turn torque on the fiber. To avoid that torque and the concomitant twisting resulting from it, it is well known to arrange the fiber in a figure eight configuration. That way there is a turn of the fiber in one sense followed immediately by a turn in the other sense, thereby cancelling out the torque. Additionally, optical fibers must not be stored while bent in a radius that is less than the minimum allowable for the fiber. If bent at a lesser radius, there is unacceptable loss of the optical signal propagating within the fiber; and, if bent too sharply the fiber can be damaged. Termination chambers are kept as small as possible in order to facilitate handling, and to reduce cost. Therefore, in the management of excess fiber within a termination chamber the usual goals are to configure the fiber as a “figure-eight” while minimizing both the radius and axial length of the managed fiber commensurate with the fiber's minimum allowable bend radius. The foregoing termination-chamber example is only one of many that could be cited wherein optical fibers must be managed in a compact figure-eight configuration. There is a wide range of applications for simple, compact fiber management devices.
Existing art, some of which is described herein, does not completely fulfill the needs of these applications. It is, therefore, advantageous to have an improved device and method to manage optical fibers whose ends are both either fixed or inaccessible.